Seven years of planning, land acquisition hurdles, financial threats and swelling anticipation for a safer courthouse finally led to the ceremonial breaking of ground Friday.

Shovels plowed into the dirt, marking the start of construction of the San Joaquin County Superior Court's new main building, a 13-story high rise expected to tower over all other buildings in the city.

"We have been waiting so long for this," said Judge Robin Appel, chairwoman of the local court's facilities committee. "We are going to have a beautiful new courthouse in just a couple of years now."

The need for an updated court building in Stockton has been a chief priority for Superior Court since 2007.

Local court officials have been on a roller coaster of worry and relief from drawn-out negotiations to buy land parcels, to making design changes that reflect building code amendments, to weathering the recession and state financial cuts.

If not for a tour taken by state officials who saw the broken elevators, overcrowded holding cells and shackled defendants being escorted in plain public view, it still might have been cut. But those inadequacies convinced state officials of the need.

The new 310,443-square-foot courthouse will sit on a sliver of land donated by the city of Stockton - what used to be Hunter Square - and will be home to 30 courtrooms.

The construction site includes two parcels that used to be occupied by commercial buildings. Because the owner of an adjacent building wouldn't sell, the construction site wraps around the building in an L-shape.

Not only will the structure be colossal, it will boast innovation.

Attorneys will be able to present their trial exhibits for jurors on modern projectors. Outdated computer systems will be replaced by new technology.

A three-story atrium with escalators will provide easier access to the first three floors.

Jurors will have access to a balcony and Wi-Fi.

Detainees will be held and escorted through secure facilities out of public view.

It will be green, too.

Sustainability features, including high-efficiency heating and cooling systems and natural lighting, will be installed with the goal of qualifying the building for LEED Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

That the new courthouse will stay downtown is important, Appel said, because it has been such a vital part of the area.

It will be the fourth courthouse built on the same land donated more than a century ago by the city's founder, Charles Weber, and that fact certainly carries historical significance, said Alice van Ommeren, a local historian and regular community blogger for The Record.

When Stockton was a sprouting city, van Ommeren said, court was held on a sailing ship named Suzanne.

And as the city grew, Weber's land was used to erect a two-story brick building, constructed in 1853.

A second courthouse replaced it in 1890. Van Ommeren refers to that one as "Stockton's grandest and noblest building of all time."

The existing edifice was built and completed in 1963.

"Historically, downtown has been the heart of Stockton's social, economic and political life," van Ommeren said. "The new courthouse will certainly contribute to drawing people back to a downtown that has lost some of its luster since the 1950s, when many businesses moved north of the Calaveras River."

Appel said officials were mindful of the effect moving the court to a different location would have on downtown businesses.

And the location keeps it accessible to everyone, including those who do not have their own transportation. Downtown is a main transit point for public transportation.

The current courthouse at San Joaquin Street and Weber Avenue served its purpose for four decades but isn't designed for the crowd size seen inside today, Holland said.

There also are more higher-risk and diverse defendants in custody than there were in the 1960s.

With increasing gangs, for example, these in-custody defendants have to be segregated safely, and there are not enough holding cells. There have been cases in which defendants have been held inside a nonworking elevator.

Jailed defendants are escorted to courtrooms through the same hallways walked by the public, attorneys and judges.

The facility also needs costly renovations.

Best put by local Judge Bob McNatt, Holland said at the groundbreaking: "If this sick old building was a horse, compassion would require that we shoot it."

But all those issues soon will be in the past. Officials expect the $272.9 million project, designed by NBBJ Architects and constructed by Turner Construction, will be complete by the fall of 2016.

Funding comes from trial court user fees and state revenue bonds.

"There's nothing that we're aware of that can stop this building now," Appel said.

Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez-Moore at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com. Follow her at recordnet.com/courtsblog and on Twitter @TheRecordCourts.

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